


Waffles and Other Unalienable Rights

by chasingyellow



Series: Alone (Together) [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Am I still writing about the holidays?, Christmas, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Trauma, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Hurt, Jason is Nervous, Jason thought he didn't like purple, Jay is a bit of a wreck, Panic Attacks, She's the best, Simple as that, Steph is the best, Stephanie Brown is my queen, Waffles, almost, and that's pretty much it, but he wants to be loved, but mostly on the inside, but that's okay, everyone likes purple, is it January?, now suddenly he does, this is a rollercoaster, waffles are eaten, words are exchanged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28804041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasingyellow/pseuds/chasingyellow
Summary: “I think it’s stupid that we’re all in the same city, all running around in stupid costumes and all doing what we think is best and we can’t stop for a second and take each other out for waffles.”ORJason isn't scared of the Pit Madness and Steph isn't scared of the Red Hood. They're both a little bit wrong, but waffles make (most) things better.
Series: Alone (Together) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083293
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88





	Waffles and Other Unalienable Rights

**Author's Note:**

> Voila! A Stephanie and Jason fic! I personally think they would get along fairly well, if they got the chance, so here's to hoping this project worked out.   
> So, first off, I love Stephanie to death. I think she has the sweetest, most unique personality and take on life. I hope I did okay writing her. This fic honestly just took off. I didn't intend for it to be this long, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out so I hope you all enjoy it. It'll make the most sense if you read it after the others in the Alone(Together) series, but feel free to read it anytime.   
> Secondly, I looooove waffles.   
> And third, please enjoy and remember to talk to the people you love, because the people that are the most important are the ones that are there for you and vice versa.  
> Hope you enjoy! All the love!

“Purple?” 

Of all colors in the world, Jason really,  _ really  _ wasn’t in the mood for purple. Bright colors like that—like green—just reminding him of his least favourite person in the world. Reminded him of the Joker. 

A lot of things reminded him of the Joker these days. 

He was trying to keep his head, trying to stay sane, but it seemed to only be getting harder. 

“Purple,” Spoiler said, evenly. Almost like a challenge. Her shoulders went straight, standing up a little taller. 

She was really giving it her all. 

In all honesty, she sounded younger than he expected. Younger and more... He couldn’t put a finger on it. 

“What are you doing out here?” She said, coming a step closer, meeting his eyes. He could feel her gaze boring into him. It made him uneasy—not as uneasy as Cass had, at first, but it made him uncomfortable how  _ not scared  _ she was. 

Most of the Bats approached him with a sort of hesitation. They knew that he was a killer. They were hesitant because he’d lashed out at them, he’d tried to kill most of them. 

But Spoiler was different. 

He’d heard about her but he hadn’t met her yet. Not really. 

“Patrol,” He said, simply. 

“I heard you weren’t doing well,” Spoiler said. “What are you even doing out here?” 

Suddenly, the mild irritation, the confusion as to why she was even talking to him changed in a moment. Jason felt his chest seize up immediately, anger and panic flashing. 

_ Cass had told.  _

Cassandra had seen him puking up his guts. She’d seen him weak and sick and shaky and barely able to keep down half a bowl of soup. 

_ And she’d told.  _

He’d been a wreck last week, too. Worse than he’d been in a long time. And sick on top of everything else. 

He’d been a mess. He’d had a moment of weakness. He’d wanted—some part of him had wanted—someone to be there with him. Maybe to make sure that he drank water after puking up half the food supply of the country, maybe to make sure he didn’t pass out in the aforementioned puke. 

Maybe just so that he didn’t have to feel so utterly and completely alone. Just for a minute. Just while he was sick. 

And she’d  _ told _ . 

That was what he’d been trying to avoid. That was what he’d been trying to avoid this whole time. He’d been trying to avoid looking weak, making an idiot out of himself. He’d been trying to avoid letting the Bats know that he  _ wasn’t doing well.  _ Letting them know that he wasn’t coping. 

That terrified him. 

He couldn’t find his voice for a frighteningly long second. 

“ _ What? _ ” 

“Damian said that you weren’t eating,” 

Jason’s brain stalled. 

_ Damian?  _

“My eating?” Jason blurted. 

Spoiler stared at him for a moment. “He said he was ‘simply monitoring the condition and levels of your health since it seems that you inherited the defective trait of not being able to regulate your own health’” She made dramatic air-quotes, “And that it was his duty to make sure that you didn’t die of stupidity since it would be detrimental to Grayson’s wellbeing’.” Spoiler’s eyes were bouncing back and forth between seriousness and amusement and Jason was beginning to be sure that he’d never perfected this whole  _ communication  _ thing.

He stared at her. 

“It’s really more about Dick than it is about you,” She said. 

“Oh, so you decided monitoring my diet would help?” Jason asked, feeling heat start to creep up the back of his neck. 

This situation was starting to edge out of the  _ embarrassing  _ category and move into the  _ infuriating  _ category. 

“Sort of,” Spoiler said and he couldn’t tell if she was serious. 

That was the thing that pushed him over the edge and he spun away from her, throwing his hands up. “ _ Right.  _ You have a meeting about it too? ‘Yeah, he’s a murderer, but, more importantly,  _ did he eat his breakfast?’ _ ” 

He could almost feel the air thicken at that, could almost feel Spoiler stiffen. Feel her getting angry. 

“You just throw that around, don’t you?” 

Jason froze. 

“You’re just trying to scare us off, aren’t you?” Spoiler snapped, voice gaining a little volume. “‘Oh, they must’ve forgotten how edgy and broody I am. Did I mention that I killed a few people? I don’t think I’ve peppered it into the conversation enough today. Murderer! Means I’ve murdered people!’ You think we’ve forgotten about that?” 

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s  _ not  _ true,” Jason whirled back around, heart beating high in his throat.

He needed to just leave. 

He was  _ not  _ having this conversation. Not with a Bat he didn’t even know. 

“You’re trying to scare us,” Spoiler repeated, sounding annoyingly victorious. Like she’d just figured him all out. Like she’d just solved a puzzle. 

That’s what he was to them, wasn’t it? 

“You’re trying to scare us because it’s true.” She said. “You are.” 

“I’m what?” 

“You’re sick,” 

“Yeah, I’m running around in Crime Alley, with pneumonia. I wonder if I can shoot out kneecaps when I’m coughing up a lung.” Jason could feel his voice rising, his throat tightening but it all felt out of his control. Green was creeping into the edges of his vision. 

He needed to breathe. 

He needed to not be having this conversation. 

He was going to kill someone. 

_ And he’d been doing so well.  _

“Maybe,” Spoiler’s irritation bled through into her voice again. “I’ve heard about your legendary stupidity.” 

“Wow,” Jason threw up his hands, gesturing wildly. “I really feel like you care about my health.” He turned again, feeling his chest start to heave as more green spread across his vision. 

_ Breathe.  _

_ Breathe, you’ve been doing so well.  _

He jerked forward, practically power-walking down the street, and yeah, maybe he was running away from this conversation but he really didn’t want to kill a Bat tonight. __

It wasn’t even a second before he heard footsteps behind him. 

It was so familiar that it made his stomach turn over, anxiety filling up his chest. 

_ Why was this happening now?  _

“Hood!” 

What? Did they plan this? 

Did they have a whole meeting about it? Assign weeks to check on him, monitor him? 

_ Hey, we need someone to invade Jason's personal life. See how far he’s fallen, see how much he’s crumbled without us. Just the usual.  _

He was their charity case now, right? The prodigal son? The experiment? The  _ screw up  _ that was messing with their golden, perfect persona? A blemish that couldn’t be tolerated.

_ We can’t have him running around Gotham like that. We can’t have him associated with us. Batman rule. No killing rule. Freaking no-Bat-left-behind rule, right? Can’t have him making us look bad, right?  _

What?—Was Bruce feeling guilty now? 

Yeah, maybe he’d tried to kill him, but it hadn’t worked and now he needed to clean everything up. Now he needed to tie up the loose ends because he was  _ Bruce Wayne.  _

_ Oh, I tried to slit his neck because he wanted to kill the freaking Joker. But I need to feel like a hero again and, what the heck, it’s the holidays. Let’s scrape him off the pavement like some abandoned kitten.  _

“Hood?” 

That’s what the holidays are for, right? Pretending you like your relatives long enough to make your family look good? He just needed to wait out the holidays. They’d leave him alone after that. They’d try to lock him up in Arkham again, after that. 

Better, they’d forget about him completely again. 

“Hood!” 

Until then he just had to wait it out. Just had to ignore them. Block it out. Pretend like they weren’t tempting him with something that was an inch away from breaking him completely. 

_ Just keep checking on him. Eventually, he’s gonna break and then we’ll swoop in and save the day, hero-complexes and all.  _

_ Jokes on you _ , Jason thought bitterly, trying to ignore the footsteps, the calls of the hero behind him.  _ I’ve been broken for a while now.  _

_ Too late for you, Bruce. It’s _ —

“Jason? Hey!” Spoiler shouted, footsteps stopping. “Are you just gonna ignore me? I’ve just offered you waffles, you idiot!” 

Jason froze. “What?” 

He wasn’t...He hadn’t expected that. 

“See?” Spoiler sounded smug again and he wasn’t sure if he hated it or not. “No one can ignore waffles. 

“Waffles?” It was such a change in conversation that Jason’s brain came to a screeching halt. “What?” 

Spoiler sighed. “Have you even been listening?” 

“What do waffles have to do with...anything?” 

“What  _ don’t  _ waffles have to do with anything?” Spoiler said and the footsteps skipped forward until she was right beside him, standing next to him and looking up at him. “Damian said you weren’t eating. So, I thought I’d take you out for waffles.” 

“I…” Jason cleared his throat, all too aware of the way that the green in his vision was fading. “You were…” 

Spoiler rolled her eyes. “You’re acting like you’ve never been asked anywhere. Are you hungry or not?” 

  
  


Jason wasn’t even sure how he ended up in a crappy, 24 hour diner at 2 in the morning, but Spoiler was very pushy, apparently, practically dragging him through the doors and insisting that he just “wait a minute, you’ll feel better after waffles”. 

So Jason just sat there, for a reason that he couldn’t explain, as Spoiler ordered them both waffles. Once the waitress left, Spoiler leaned forward, propped up her head on her fists and stared at him. She’d taken down her hood, letting out a mess of blond hair. 

He could see her eyes clearer now, but he still couldn’t really read them. 

“So,” She said, drawing out the word. “You were dead.” 

Jason felt his mouth go dry. “Yeah,” 

“Sweet,” She winced. “Or not so sweet. I don’t know. I’ve never been dead.” 

“Yeah,” Jason repeated, suddenly feeling utterly and completely stupid.  _ Why was he even here?  _ He couldn’t even remember if he liked waffles, couldn’t remember the last time he’d had them. In all honesty, he’d been living off of soup, _Gatorade,_ and oatmeal for the last few months. He couldn’t bring himself to actually  _ cook  _ anything because that’s what he’d done with Alfred and—

And he couldn’t think about that right now. 

_ Waffles.  _

Just eat the waffles and leave. He  _ was  _ hungry. 

“Okay, please don’t leave. We don’t have to talk about that.” Spoiler was saying and Jason realized that he’d been tensing up, been shifting in his seat. 

“I’m not running,” He said, trying to sound like he thought that was a stupid idea, like it wasn’t something he’d done a million times before.

Spoiler huffed into her hands and then sighed, sitting up properly. “I’m Stephanie, by the way,” 

“I thought you weren’t supposed to tell people that sort of thing,” Jason said, “Bat rules, right?” 

He tried to ignore the sound of Bruce’s voice in his ear.  _ Names.  _ He wondered if he’d stopped saying that and then regretted the thought a second too late. 

Stephanie shrugged. “I thought we might as well get to know one another,” 

Jason felt his chest tighten, felt a thousand warnings going off in his head like police sirens. Like ambulance sirens. Like—

_ Breathe, Jason. _

“Why?” 

“Because I think it’s stupid,” Her voice rose as little, and her eyes hardened, hands slipping down to rest flat against the tabletop. “I think it’s stupid that we’re all in the same city, all running around in stupid costumes and all doing what we think is best and we can’t stop for a second and  _ take each other out for waffles. _ ” 

She meant _look out for each other_ , Jason knew. But she didn’t say it out loud and Jason felt a surge of relief.

“I think we’re all being stupid,” Stephanie said, finally, after a minute of silence, of just  _ staring  _ at him. Maybe she spent a lot of time with Cass. “So, I decided to not be stupid. It’s the holidays, after all,” 

_ Right. Of course.  _

Oh, yeah, we care about you. 

But also it’s the holidays. So we have to. 

“Okay, yeah, you hated that. Rant over, I guess,” Stephanie said, quickly, putting her chin back in her hands and then leaning over the table to pick at one of the bright yellow sugar packets in the center of the table. “But, I’m...yeah, I don’t know,” 

Silence settled over them, Stephanie occasionally glancing at him like she thought he was going to bolt any second. 

Jason couldn’t lie, he sort of felt like doing that. 

But there was something, something  _ comfortable  _ that made him want to just stay and eat waffles. Something that made him almost believe that afterward it wouldn’t matter—that it  _ wouldn’t  _ just cause more problems. That he’d just be able to do it and talk to someone and then go back to his life afterward. 

Somewhere in his mind, he knew it wasn’t true. 

But he gritted his teeth and glanced up at the counter at the front of the diner to remind himself that he was just getting waffles and sat there. 

The waffles came, eventually. 

Stephanie brightened at the sight of them, sitting up and thanking the waitress. She slid Jason’s plate over to him and waited until the waitress was gone to pull her hood up again and tug down her mask. 

“Thanks,” 

“Hey,” She said, shaking her fork and knife out of her folded up napkin. “Waffles are an unalienable right. It’s not my place to deny anyone of such a thing.” 

Jason stared at her as she struggled to stuff half a waffle in her mouth  _ and  _ smile at him and he felt the irrational, impossible urge to  _ laugh.  _

“An unalienable right?” He found himself asking. 

Stephanie bobbed her head and rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, obviously. Are you going to eat that or not? I’m broke, dude. Don’t waste it,” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason said, the words feeling strange and uncertain in his mouth. 

_ He did  _ not  _ know what he was doing.  _

What did she expect? Did she want him to just act normal? To be as  _ normal  _ as he could be and then forget that it happened? Was he supposed to be quiet? Maybe she didn’t really want to talk to him. What was he— 

“Sorry about...that, by the way,” 

He looked up, a stupid expression on his face. “What?” 

“For that shouting match in the alley. That was another stupid thing.” Stephanie bobbed her head to look up at him and then back down at her waffles. She didn’t sound particularly apologetic, just honest. “I shouldn’t call you out on stuff like that—on the murderer thing,” She looked up again, squinting at him. “Even if it is true.” 

“I…” 

_ What was he supposed to say to that?  _

Jason looked down at his waffles, only to jerk his head back up, startled, when Stephanie chuckled.

“That’s B’s job,” 

Jason stiffened, heart still in his throat. “Yeah, whatever,” 

Stephanie waved her fork at him. “Don’t  _ whatever  _ me. I’m trying to see things from your perspective.” She paused and he stared at her, not sure whether to apologize or to just stay quiet. 

“How are you going to eat with that helmet on?” 

_ Oh yeah.  _

“Um,” 

“Do you want me to get you a take out box? They do those here, I think,” 

“No, it’s—” Jason shook his head, a million things running through his head. He had a domino on underneath his helmet, but if he didn’t have to take off his helmet why would he? He didn’t have to—

His fingers found the helmet’s latch. 

Stephanie stared at him. 

But it was only fair, though, right? She’d gone through all this trouble. She wasn’t like the other Bats, so far anyway. She wasn’t preaching at him, trying to make him come home. Trying to get him to talk about Bruce. __

_Why did that matter to him? Why did he even care about_ freaking waffles _? He needed to_ _cut this off. It was stupid. It was pointless. It was ruining all the work that he’d done, trying to keep himself apart from all of the_ —

Green bled into his vision. 

Jason flipped the latch on his helmet and tugged it off, cutting his thoughts off. 

_ If the Pit wanted him to keep his helmet on, then he was  _ darn well  _ going to take it off.  _

It came loose with a single pull, exposing his sweaty hair, his tired face, and everything else that he’d hidden underneath the armor. 

“No, it’s fine,” He said. His voice sounded small in his ears without the distortion of the helmet. 

Stephanie met his eyes, shock frozen on her features for half a second. 

Then she burst out into laughter. 

“You’re a baby,” 

“What?” 

“I thought you’d be—” Stephanie sighed out another half of a laugh, sitting back. “Well, I don’t know. I guess everyone made me think you’d be some sort of grizzled serial killer,” 

Jason raised an eyebrow. “And you decided to get me waffles?” 

“Unalienable right, remember? It wasn’t my place to deny you of them,” Stephanie smirked at him and then gestured to his waffles. 

“Yeah,” He stared down at the waffles and felt that same irrational urge to laugh. “Right,” 

Half an hour, two platters of waffles, and only two existential crises later, Jason sat on the curb of the sidewalk behind the diner, Stephanie sitting beside him. 

They sat in silence for a long time, for a reason Jason didn’t fully understand. 

_ Digesting their waffles,  _ Stephanie had told him.  _ It was necessary.  _

Apparently, she just wanted to make him go to sleep even later than usual. 

Jason studied his helmet in his hands, trying not to think about anything, trying to look as peaceful and unburdened as Stephanie did beside him. 

But there were too many questions in his mind, bouncing back and forth off of the sides of his skull, jostling into one another, and generally giving him a headache. There was something, something that he  _ almost  _ remembered…

Something that he…

“I’ve been here,” 

He didn’t really mean to say it out loud but it spilled out anyway. 

Stephanie looked over, stayed silent, watching him. 

“It was…” He paused, ran his tongue over his lips, and furrowed his brow, trying desperately to think, to remember it. “I was…”

_ Bruce.  _

_ Bruce had taken him.  _

He’d been Robin. This was the only diner that was open that late. They had that little sign on their window. He and Batman had come in full costume. Their waitress nearly passed out from shock or excitement. 

He’d given his autograph, although he suspected the girl had asked him just to be polite. 

And then they’d had breakfast food. 

_ Had it been waffles?  _

“Jason?” Stephanie’s voice was softer than Jason expected. And she seemed to know exactly what was happening. “I thought it would help you remember.”

_ She’s just like them. She _ — 

“I don’t want to,” It didn’t come as heated as it was meant to. Jason ran his hands over his face, trying to ignore the shaking. 

“I’m sorry. I should have asked. I thought it would help.” 

Jason got to his feet, slid back on his helmet. He felt sort of numb inside, like his entire body was just waiting to erupt. Like the anger was just waiting at the door. Like the Pit madness was just biding its time. 

He felt his chest tighten. 

“I wanted to meet you. For real,” Stephanie stood too. “I thought I’d try and kill two birds with one stone.” 

Jason had a thousand things that he wanted to say, a thousand things that he wanted to scream at her. 

_ Because it wasn’t right. Because she’d planned.  _

But the memory was stuck in his head: Bruce’s low chuckle when the waitress asked for Jason’s autograph and he’d practically squealed, the nod that Bruce had given when Jason showed him that  _ yes, he could do cursive. _

The smirk when he’d ordered a huge platter of food because Bruce had said he could get anything. 

“Jason?” 

“Thanks for the waffles,” He choked out, turning. 

“Jason, I’m sorry,” 

_ You should be.  _ It was on the tip of his tongue. He should say it. That was what the Red Hood would say. He needed to. 

Jason Todd didn’t say anything. He started walking and Stephanie didn’t follow him. 

“Thanks for not killing me!” Stephanie shouted. 

Jason reached the main street, eyes settled on his bike. 

“Waffles again sometime?” 

Jason didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t know how to feel. 

“Jason, please?” 

“Next time?” He turned his head, already halfway on the bike. “Not here,” 

Stephanie’s eyes widened for a second, like she was shocked that he’d actually replied to her at all. Then the expression melted into a smile and she raised a hand in a wave. 

“Definitely waffles, though,” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Drink lots of water and listen to some good music!   
> Until next time,   
> -a


End file.
